


We will be fine

by Shinkukka



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Kind of Hurt/Comfort, M/M, kind of angst, non-canon ages, some characters are children, some characters have very minor roles, tbh only the first two ships mentioned play a bigger role, wedding disaster
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-20
Updated: 2016-09-20
Packaged: 2018-08-15 20:26:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8071579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shinkukka/pseuds/Shinkukka
Summary: Weddings had always been a happy occasion for Wataru. Weddings were about love and joy, the greatest day in a couple’s life. So that is why Wataru couldn’t understand, how it wasn’t a wedding he found himself in, currently, but a dusty room with rubble everywhere, faint noises ringing in the air that smelled like blood and, occasionally, burnt skin.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I did like no research for this fic whatsoever I'm sorry  
> also this is like, half proofed but it should be okay

Weddings had always been a happy occasion for Wataru. Weddings were about love and joy, the greatest day in a couple’s life. So that is why Wataru couldn’t understand, how it wasn’t a wedding he found himself in, currently, but a dusty room with rubble everywhere, faint noises ringing in the air that smelled like blood and, occasionally, burnt skin.

 

Just an hour before, they were all happily celebrating, having a good time and teasing the young married couple. There were not many guests celebrating the wedding of Isara Mao and Sakuma Ritsu. It was only people important to them, close friends and family, gathered together to witness their happiest day in their lives.

 

But that was an hour ago, now was now, and they were two completely different things. Wataru’s ears were still ringing, all the other noises kind of muffled by the ringing and his own thoughts and the beating of his heart, but he had mostly come into his senses. He couldn’t have been out for more than 10 minutes.

Wataru stumbled to his feet. His body ached in several places, his heart was racing and he tried to gather his thoughts. He needed to slowly go through what had happened to leave the happy occasion in such a state of disaster.

Everything had gone well. Rei hadn’t made his toast yet, the couple had danced their first dance together, people had been enjoying the buffet… Then someone had run in – no someone had run to the door – and started yelling for everyone to get out. People had been confused, making their way to the door. Someone mentioned a helicopter. Then it was a few passing moments, something that had felt like a few lifetimes, before the world around them crashed.

It was the helicopter. The helicopter had crashed through the roof. The helicopter had crashed through the roof and caused this state of chaos.

After coming to this realisation the ever calm and carefree mask of Hibiki Wataru started to break into pieces. He needed to find Eichi. Eichi had been right beside him when the crash happened, he couldn’t be too far. Wataru needed to hurry up and get himself in gear, find Eichi as fast as possible and get him out.

Wataru took a quick look around the room. He could see other people around the wide room getting up, he could see the helicopter hanging from the hole in the roof. He could hear people shouting, most likely looking for people important to them. Wataru couldn’t shout. He couldn’t find his voice at all. Not before he had made sure Eichi was safe and okay and outside of the building.

The kids were supposed to be outside playing with the twins, so they were most likely okay, but Eichi wasn’t. Besides, Keito and Kuro were supposed to look after the kids, Keito wouldn’t let anything happen to them, Kuro would keep them safe, right? Meanwhile Eichi couldn’t be okay with all the dust in the air, and what if something had dropped on Eichi and… No, Wataru needed to keep it positive, happy thoughts, Eichi was going to be fine. Eichi had to be fine. He was okay and Eichi had been right next to him when it happened, Eichi was going to be alright when he found him, _when_ he _found_ him…

Wataru took a deep breath, trying to keep his body from shaking. He could faintly see the glasses kid help the orange haired kid lift up a pillar to help someone, Wataru couldn’t see who, out. That’s when Wataru could hear a familiar cough. It was faint, barely audible, but he knew it, he had heard it a million times before – a million times too much – and this had to be the first time he was glad to hear that sick cough.

“Eichi!” he breathed out, not loud enough to even be called a whisper, the words just escaping from his lips.

He turned around looking for the source of the coughs, before finally locating the pale man behind a piece of the roof and a small pile of rubble. Wataru’s heart skipped a beat. That piece could’ve been just a little bigger, or fallen slightly differently and it would have…

“Eichi,” Wataru whispered, rushing to him. “We need to get you out of here, the air isn’t good for you, what if you are hurt somewhere-”

Eichi coughed again.

“Honestly I’m fine Wataru,” Eichi coughed again. “I just feel a little weak. Are the kids okay? They were outside right?”

Wataru crouched down next to Eichi, taking his face into his hands. Putting their foreheads together, Wataru took a shaky breath.

“Thank gods you are okay,” Wataru let out with a shaky breath, bringing their lips together for a chaste kiss.

“We need to get you out, the air is full of dust, it’s not good for you,” Wataru said, finally regaining his voice to some extent, effortlessly lifting Eichi up bridal style.

Thankfully they were close to the doorway and could easily get out of the building, and Wataru said quick prayers to whoever was out there for not blocking the exit from the people inside.

Outside, there were people gathering around, coming to see what had happened. There was also an incredibly worried Keito, a phone in his hand, pacing around with an equally, but not in the same way, worried Kuro, following a few steps behind him. Wataru walked a good distance away from the building before laying Eichi down on the grass. Wataru then proceeded to take off his jacket, giving it to Eichi. Meanwhile Keito stormed up to them the moment he noticed them.

“Thank goodness you are alright Eichi, we’ve called an ambulance and the fire department is on their way, they’ll take a while to get here but it should be okay, can you breathe okay? You are not hurting anywhere? What about the others, is everyone okay?” Keito started talking right away, Kuro trying to calm him down with no results.

“Calm down a little Keito. Are the kids okay? Where are they?” Eichi asked, seemingly calm and collected, but Wataru could see the tiny shivers of his body.

“The kids are fine, we left Souma to look after them. Natsume was sticking close to Tsukasa so I think the crash got them frightened which is why I trusted them with Souma,” Keito huffed, fixing his glasses.

Wataru’s thoughts were racing, making him miss Keito mumbling something about Souma being an aloof kid but at least the teenager could do what he was told, when they all heard a heart wrenching scream from the building.

“…That sounded like Ritsu,” Eichi voiced the thought that must have crossed all their minds.

When Eichi had closed his mouth, Wataru was already running into the building, not listening to what Eichi was yelling at him. He glanced behind him and could see Kuro running after him, a few steps behind, probably with the same intentions as he did – to help the people still inside. What awaited them inside was not something they thought they’d find.

The first thing they could see inside, was Ritsu, crouching next to a head of red hair that laid unmoving, on the ground, as Koga and the orange haired kid – Subaru, Wataru guessed – were lifting something from on top of him. Both of them instinctively moved towards the shaking black haired boy, but Wataru stopped before he could make it that far.

The feminine looking guy, one of Ritsu’s friends, was laying on the floor, his left leg trapped under a wooden bar. He probably could’ve moved it by himself, but both his hands were around a small brown haired boy, protecting him from any harm that might come. Wataru effortlessly lifted the bar, freeing his trapped leg and helping the man up. Arashi, Wataru remembered, hissed as he put weight on his left leg.

“Will you make it out alright?” Wataru asked him quickly.

Arashi tightened his grip on the boy and nodded.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine, thank you for your help, but I think it’s needed elsewhere.”

Wataru looked as he started limping towards the door, catching sight of pink hair being escorted through the door. It was good, it meant that Himegimi and the Butler were okay as well. Wataru turned his attention back to Ritsu, noting that Kuro had directed his attention elsewhere, kneeling down next to the Sena guy a little further away.

Hurriedly stumbling over rubble Wataru made his way to the still unmoving Mao and the rest of the people helping him. The only movement from Ritsu however, was violent shaking, as barely audible sobs of “Maa-kun” could be heard. Ritsu was holding his hands next to Mao’s face, his face half buried in the red hair. Wataru felt physically sick for a split second, his heart aching in his chest at the sight. Either of them could’ve been him or Eichi.

Koga and Subaru were struggling with a piece of a ceiling bar, which awoke Wataru from his grim thoughts. He hurried to help them, the bar effortlessly lifting up as Wataru joined. Mao had been almost right under the spot where the helicopter crashed through. He was buried under the rubble but looked like he hadn’t suffered many external injuries, which lifted a weight off of Wataru’s mind.

“We need to move him,” Koga said, when they’d got enough rubble off of the poor boy.

“But shouldn’t we wait for the paramedics to arrive? What if he has broken bones and we mess everything up by moving him?” Subaru asked worriedly.

“Have you fucking taken a look at him? He’s barely breathing, he needs instant medical attention, we don’t have the time to wait for the fucking ambulance to arrive, we need to get him to the hospital ourselves,” Koga barked back at him.

“…I have to agree with him, it’s better if someone drives him to the hospital. The ambulance will take time to get here and it’ll take even more time to get to the hospital once it arrives. The faster he gets there, the better,” Wataru said quietly, turning his head to look at Ritsu, who was still shaking, seemingly not reacting to anything they said.

“Okay, Idiot and Wimpy Glasses take the legs and I’ll take the upper body,” Koga ordered, glancing at Ritsu. “You’ll have to deal with him, Hibiki, can you do that?”

Wataru brought his gaze to meet Koga’s and nodded, walking over to Ritsu and crouching next to him. He brought his hand above Ritsu’s arched back, a tiny bit afraid to touch it, fearing the boy might break or react violently. Taking a deep breath Wataru let his hand fall down, gently, trying to keep his hand steady against the shaking back of the hunched boy.

“Ritsu…” he whispered quietly. “I need you to get up for a while, so we can get help for Mao. It’ll be a few minutes and then you can be next to him again, we just need to get Mao to the car so he can get help, can you do that?”

Ritsu didn’t seem to react in any way, despite Wataru rubbing circles on his back to calm him down. Wataru could see Koga was only minutes away from blowing his fuse, most likely because Rei was still missing. Mao’s friends were just looking anxious, probably fearing for their dear friend.

“Ritsu,” Wataru tried again. “Nod for a yes, shake your head for a no. Do you understand that Mao needs to get medical attention as fast as possible?”

Again it seemed like Ritsu didn’t even register what Wataru was saying to him, but after a few quick moments, they could see Ritsu slowly move his head in a nod. Wataru released a breath he didn’t even notice he was holding.

“Okay, we need to lift Mao to take him out from here. I promise you, you don’t need to be far from him, or away from him for a long time, but we need you to let go of him for a while. Can you do that?”

A slightly longer while, before he got a nod.

“Good, good, now, can you get up by yourself?”

A very quick shake.

“Will you be fine with me carrying you to the car, we can go right after Mao and walk so you can see him the whole time if you want to.”

A small wait, but a nod.

Wataru nodded himself, even though Ritsu couldn’t see it, before he scooped the boy up. It was a little hard with Ritsu being curled up, but Wataru had gone through carrying Natsume around, and to be quite honest, carrying an active child was maybe a hundred times harder than carrying Ritsu was.

Koga moved to grab Mao under his arms, and Subaru and glasses kid (did it start with an M? Wataru couldn’t get it to his head right now) both took a hold of one of Mao’s legs.

“On a count of three,” Koga said quietly and the other two nodded.

Wataru moved out of their way as they got Mao up and going, falling two steps behind them like he had promised Ritsu.

More people had gathered outside. Everybody was eager to find out what had happened, but no one was apparently ready to rush into the building to help the people inside. Wataru scoffed silently, deciding to scan the area around the building to see who was there.

Eichi was now standing, holding onto Wataru’s jacket like a lifeline, Keito clearly trying to talk to him to make him calm down. A small distance away, a distressed Tori was sitting on the ground, shaking badly, as the Butler hovered around him, most likely making sure he wasn’t fatally injured.

When Eichi noticed them, his already pale face went a few shades paler, and he started rushing towards Wataru, Keito trailing a little behind him at first, running to Mao with his face even paler than Eichi’s when he realised what was happening.

“Let’s take him to my car,” the glasses kid said, after he had finished looking around like Wataru had done.

The other two just nodded, Wataru following them obediently.

“Are they okay?” Eichi asked quietly, once he caught up with Wataru.

Wataru glanced at Mao and shook his head, not to upset Ritsu anymore. Eichi understood this from the years of experience the two had in nonverbal communication. Slowly, Eichi brought his hand to Ritsu’s shoulder, in an effort to console the younger boy.

“Can you unlock the doors and open the door for us? The keys should be in my pocket,” the glasses kid – Wataru still couldn’t remember his name – said to Keito, Keito starting to pat down his body to find the keys in question.

“We should probably put Ritsu into the car first, both on the backseat,” Eichi said, and pulled Wataru along with him to the other side of the car.

They got Ritsu seated, Eichi making sure his seatbelt was on, before Wataru helped the others get Mao into the car. Keito handed the keys back to glasses kid, when Mao was as safely in the car as he could be, Ritsu brushing his hands through his hair full of bits and pieces of the rubble.

“You should go with them, Eichi, get yourself checked out at the hospital,” Keito said, looking straight into Eichi’s eyes.

Eichi laughed. “I’m not leaving. I’m completely fine, just a couple of scrapes and scratches here and there.”

“But-,” Keito tried to start.

“I’m. Not. Going.” Eichi gave him a heartless smile, and the conversation was over.

Wataru could swear he felt Keito give him an ugly stare. He shouldn’t be surprised though. Wataru knew he was the reason Eichi refused to go.

The glasses kid turned to face Subaru.

“I didn’t see Hokuto outside. Make sure he is safe while I take them to the hospital,” he said, grabbing Subaru’s shoulder for a quick moment, before getting into the car.

Subaru nodded, bringing his own hand to where the glasses kid had held him, staying put to see the car drive away. Wataru, Eichi and Keito stayed there for a little while too, only Koga ran back to the building right after getting Mao into the car.

After the car had disappeared from sight, Wataru took a step towards the building, only to be stopped by Eichi holding him by his shirt. Wataru sighed and buried his free hand into Eichi’s hair. This was Eichi’s cue to bury his head against Wataru’s neck, as Wataru rubbed small circles into Eichi’s scalp with his fingers.

“Please don’t go back inside,” Eichi said with a small voice, a small and defeated voice.

Wataru hummed. “You know I’ll have to go. Rei is still inside there. Hokuto is probably still inside there. You know I can’t leave them there.”

“But you might leave me alone,” Eichi whispered, a nearly soundless thought out of his lips, and Wataru felt his heart skip a beat as it jumped to his throat.

“Eichi,” Wataru croaked. “I have to go. I promise I’ll come back, I won’t leave you alone, I won’t leave the kids alone. It’ll be okay.”

Wataru could feel Eichi take in two deep breaths before he lifted his head and let go of his sleeve. Wataru lifted his now free hand to cradle Eichi’s cheek, staring into the deep blue eyes full of worry and panic. Slowly he brought their lips together, locking them for a few quick – too quick – moments.

“I have to go.”

That was the final word on the matter and they both knew it. Wataru could basically see Eichi’s eyes burning, so he smiled, a bad attempt to make the blond feel better.

“If you dare to die on me I will drag you back from wherever you go to, just to kill you myself,” Eichi threatened him.

Wataru let out a small laugh, something that sounded so inappropriate in this situation, even though this day was supposed to be all about love and happiness.

It was suddenly so hard to leave Eichi alone, but Wataru had to go in. If Rei had not been found yet, it didn’t mean anything good, more likely just the opposite. Wataru couldn’t bear the thought of losing Rei, he was an important friend who had been there for him in hard times, now he needed to be there for him.

Wataru gave Eichi one last kiss on the cheek before turning on his heels and running to the house. He could see a mental image of what Eichi must have looked like, standing behind him, watching him go and endanger himself for the benefit of others once again. Eichi had never liked his tendency to put other’s before him, but it wasn’t like Wataru could do anything about it.

The inside was mostly empty, only Subaru and Koga frantically searching around, as Izumi and Kuro were still crouched to help someone. Koga and Subaru weren’t swayed from their search with Wataru’s sudden appearance, but Kuro and Izumi looked up at him and seemed to be glad to see him.

“Hibiki, you have Shinkai’s number right?” Kuro yelled to him.

“Yes, of course I have Kanata’s number, but why on earth would you need his number in a situation like- oh,” Wataru walked towards them, mildly confused, until he could see the person they were helping and the state he was in.

Morisawa Chiaki was laying on the floor, Kuro hovering over him, pressing Izumi’s jacket against Chiaki’s lower abdomen. Wataru could see something red on the white jacket even in the dark room, and he hurried over.

“I should have my phone right here; do you want me to call him right away?” Wataru babbled, a new kind of panic hitting him all over again.

“If you would be so kind. I’d call him myself but I’m a little occupied as you can see, haha. Besides I think my phone was crushed; I doubt it would work even if I tried,” Chiaki laughed.

Wataru could see he was struggling. He quickly fumbled for his phone, picking Kanata’s number and pressing the call button. He listened the phone give him the dial tone, before he heard the generic voice mail message. Wataru quietly stared at the phone for a while. From all the moments for Kanata to choose this one to not pick up the phone…

“…I’ll just try again okay,” Wataru said.

He should’ve expected this to be honest.

“Ah, it’s fine, he probably has his phone on mute, forgotten somewhere in the house. I’ve told him to keep his phone with him in case of emergencies so many times, but he never listens,” Chiaki smiled at Wataru.

“We’ve told him that too, it’s not your fault. I’ll just keep on trying,” Wataru reassured him.

“Actually, I’m a little glad little Shinobu caught a cold and that Tetora caught it from him. Otherwise they’d be here too, all four of them. It’s better for them to be at home, at least I know they are safe,” Chiaki started talking.

“You’ll get out of here too Morisawa, don’t give up, keep talking if that’s what helps you,” Sena said, holding Chiaki’s wrist in his hands.

“Tetora was so excited to come here, he has never been to a wedding before. Midori never wants to go anywhere so he’s probably just glad he didn’t have to come. And little Shinobu is so afraid of crowded places he probably wouldn’t have had any fun at all. Or maybe he would’ve warmed up to it and had a blast. But little Shinobu got sick. Oh thank gods he got sick. I wanted to come because I couldn’t have missed this, Isara only gets married once after all. I’m just glad it’s me and not one of them,” Chiaki babbled on, the three men around him only listening quietly.

Wataru could faintly hear Subaru yelling something to Koga, he had most likely found someone, but all Wataru could hear were his own racing thoughts. Why couldn’t Kanata just pick up his phone? Wataru had called at least twenty times now, and left maybe 4 voice mails.

“It’s okay, if you haven’t reached him by now, I doubt you’ll reach him at all,” Chiaki tried to smile.

He was becoming paler and paler by the minute, and his whole body had started to shiver a little. Wataru felt a lump growing in his throat. This couldn’t be happening.

“Don’t go giving up on me now, Morisawa,” Sena hissed quietly.

Chiaki just laughed weakly.

“What a way for a hero to go, unable to help anyone, being helped by others,” Chiaki said, now shivering more violently.

Wataru didn’t know if it because of his blood pressure dropping and him being cold, or because he was clearly about to cry.

“Don’t say things like that, you are not going anywhere right now, the only place you’ll be going is the hospital, once the ambulance gets here,” Sena was sounding desperate now, more than his usual annoyed.

Chiaki blinked, tears finally forming in his eyes.

“Just, tell them that I love them, that I love all of them so much--“

“Tell that to them yourself,” Sena spat out.

“Tell them that I love them and that I wasn’t in pain. That it was peaceful and it didn’t hurt at all. Tell them I didn’t want to leave them, but I had no other choice. Tell Kanata that he’s going to do fine, tell him to be strong. Though he’ll probably be strong even without you telling him that. Tell them not to cry too much because of me. They are all strong, even if they do cry. And most importantly, tell them that I’m sorry,” Chiaki was shedding tears now. “I’m sorry that I left them, I didn’t want to leave them. I wanted to spend so much more time with them all.”

“Morisawa! Don’t give up now, damn it! Keep your eyes open, listen to me. Keep talking Morisawa! Morisawa!” Sena was yelling now. He was probably loud enough for people outside to hear him too.

“Let it go, Sena,” Kuro’s voice was heavy but oddly calming to Wataru’s ears. “He’s gone. There’s nothing you can do anymore.”

Sena’s hands formed fists, and he hit the ground. Wataru felt empty inside, the lump in his throat getting even worse. Only Kuro seemed to be in his right mind out of the three of them.

“Come on, we should get going. It’s not safe in here,” Kuro said to them both, getting up to his feet.

Sena punched the floor for one last time, getting up and walking straight for the door. Wataru couldn’t move. He was still holding his phone in his hand, Kanata’s number ready to dial, and Wataru was at loss. What would he say if Kanata was to answer this time? What could he say if Kanata was to answer this time?

Wataru looked up from Chiaki to see Kuro offering him a hand. He took it and felt Kuro effortlessly lift him up to his feet. Wataru opened and closed his mouth a few times, not finding the right words or not getting his voice to cooperate. Kuro just patted him on the back, gently pushing Wataru towards the exit.

The outside was much brighter than Wataru remembered it to be.

Without wasting any time, Wataru walked straight to Eichi, collapsing against him. He could feel his feet give in, and Eichi seemed to understand this, making sure they didn’t crash to the ground. Wataru’s face was buried against Eichi’s shoulder, his hands slowly making their way around Eichi’s waist. Eichi automatically brought a hand to brush through Wataru’s hair, the other one rubbing circles on his back.

“How can I ever face Kanata again?” Wataru asked quietly.

Eichi didn’t know how to answer, honestly.

“It’s okay. You did your best. Kanata will understand.”

Wataru felt like he was seconds away from breaking down. He couldn’t break down. Not now, not here. He had to be strong.

Eichi just held him, trying to calm him down the best he could, occasionally leaving soft kisses on top of his head. They didn’t say a word to each other, but they both knew what the other one was thinking. It felt like decades flew past while they were like that.

However, they were suddenly interrupted by someone yelling from inside the building. Wataru’s instincts took the better of him, and tried to look for the source of the noise, but Eichi was faster. He had grabbed Wataru’s head, pulling it towards his shoulder, not letting Wataru see what was happening.

“It’s okay, Kuro and Koga finally found Rei. He was under a pile of tiny rubble no one thought to check, apparently,” Eichi told him, voice as calm as it could be. “He’s alive, but barely. The ambulance should be here any minute; he’ll probably make it.”

The relief broke over Wataru, and he started sobbing softly into Eichi’s shoulder.

Rei was okay. Rei was okay, maybe just for now, but he was okay. That was all Wataru could think about. He was okay. The kids were okay. Eichi was okay. The list repeated in his head like a mantra.

A panicked voice near them broke his thoughts apart.

“Has anyone seen Tomoya? He was supposed to be right next to me. Is he with the other kids?”

No one would have expected so much emotion to be heard from Hokuta Hidaka.

Wataru tried to lift himself up, but failed. Eichi was clinging onto him, making sure he couldn’t go. Because Eichi didn’t want him to go in anymore, every passing second the building got more and more dangerous.

“Eichi…”

“No. I’m not letting you go.”

“Just give me five minutes, I’ll quickly look around the place.”

“Absolutely not. Someone else can do it. I’m not losing you.”

“It’ll be quick, there’s no need for you to worry.”

“I’m not letting you go and that’s final.”

“Three minutes? I can’t go lower than that, please just let me have a quick look.”

“But I don’t want to risk losing you.”

“Three minutes is all I ask. I’ll be quick. If I can’t find him in three minutes, I’ll give up.”

“…”

“Please Eichi.”

Wataru could feel Eichi releasing his hold on him slowly.

“Three minutes and no more. I’m timing you. Don’t you dare not come back, okay?” Eichi said, bringing Wataru’s face to face his.

“I promise,” Wataru breathed out, grabbing Eichi’s hands from his cheeks and kissing both of the palms once. “Just wait for me here.”

With that Wataru got up and ran into the building. He could see Koga, sitting next to Rei, who was laying underneath the helicopter still dangling from the roof, not too far away from where Mao was found. With a quick look around, he decided to search the room in a clockwise direction.

He went about it as quickly but thoroughly as he could, knowing fully well Eichi would come to drag him out himself if he wasn’t out within his 3-minute time limit. Unfortunately, he couldn’t find the small boy anywhere. He wanted to do a double check, but he was running out of time. There was nothing he could do anymore. Resignedly Wataru made his way to the door and out of the building. He felt bad, having to crush Hokuto’s hopes, but he had to prioritise.

The first thing to come to his attention once he got outside, was the sounds of a nearing ambulance. Wataru’s heart started racing, and he hurried to Eichi, who had been standing near the house, with a clear view of the entrance, waiting for Wataru to return.

Once Wataru got closer, Eichi offered his hand to Wataru. He gladly took it, feeling Eichi wrap his hand tightly around his, most likely in an attempt to comfort Wataru, but also to make sure Wataru wasn’t escaping his sight in an attempt to do something stupid. Wataru brushed his thumb across Eichi’s hand, in a non-existent promise of not running off. There wasn’t anything he could do, was what Wataru repeated in his mind.

When the ambulance arrived, Eichi dragged Wataru with him to it, talking to the paramedics calmly, after Keito had explained most of the situation. Two of them went running to check on Rei, but that left two more paramedics still available. The hospital must have sent more when they heard how serious it was.

Wataru scanned the small group of people who had escaped the building sit around the patch of grass. Arashi was insisting the paramedics to take care of Hokuto first, since he apparently had a head wound that was bleeding, while cradling the small boy in his arms.

Subaru was trying to calm a frantic Hokuto down with no results. Wataru could only imagine how Hokuto must have been feeling. If Hokuto had been feeling good enough he would have probably been in there, looking for Tomoya. But out of the people outside, Hokuto had been unconscious for the longest time, and from what Wataru had gathered, he couldn’t walk without feeling dizzy, so Subaru had taken it to be his mission to keep Hokuto in one place. Wataru was sure that if it was Natsume or Tsukasa, him and Eichi would both be in there, searching for them.

The next moment, Rei was being carried out, Koga looking worried as he walked next to Rei. This time Wataru pulled Eichi along towards the ambulance, to see what was going on. Wataru stopped next to Koga, who was helplessly just standing there, watching as the paramedics loaded Rei into the ambulance.

“Will you be riding with him?” one of them asked Koga.

“I- Yes. I mean no. I have to be here for the twins,” he stuttered, a very unlike thing to Koga.

“Go with him. We can take the twins with us, just, keep us updated,” Wataru said quietly, raising his free hand to Koga’s shoulder.

Koga turned to look at Wataru, and Wataru could see the “thank you” from his eyes. Wataru nodded – he understood Koga. Besides, there was more in the way his eyes looked, and that something was sorrow and intense worry, and Wataru didn’t get a good feeling from it at all.

They watched Koga climb into the ambulance. Wataru couldn’t watch the ambulance leave. He couldn’t watch what was possibly the start of his friend’s last ride in a car when he was alive. Rei had been buried under a lot of rubble and he had been there for a long time. It was completely possible that he wasn’t going to make it.

Wataru brought his hand that was still holding Eichi’s to his mouth. He didn’t want to think about Rei right now. Eichi brought his free hand to brush against Wataru’s cheek lightly, before he started to walk towards the others.

“Have you heard any news of Mao?” Eichi asked Subaru once they got close enough.

Subaru shook his head. “The last thing I heard was that he was going into a surgery. He had no external damage but some of his internal organs were apparently damaged. I understood that he has good chances to make a full recovery but they can’t say anything for sure before the surgery.”

“Um, may I interrupt you for a second?” a voice joined the conversation, a voice that belonged to Arashi.

Everyone turned to look at Arashi. In that moment, Arashi felt a little uncomfortable, and shifted a little.

“Mitsuru said he remembers seeing Tomoya near the sink a little before the crash,” Arashi said in a quiet voice.

Wataru turned to look at Eichi even faster than he thought was possible. Unfortunately, Eichi could read his mind, and was already prepared for what Wataru was thinking.

“Absolutely no.”

“But Eichi-“

“No, I heard the men talking before, the building could collapse at any given time.”

Wataru could feel Eichi gripping his hand tightly. He brought his free hand to Eichi’s cheek, holding it there, lightly.

“Okay, I won’t go. Just let me go and tell the men that they should give the area a quick scan, is that alright?” Wataru asked, leaning forward so his forehead touched Eichi’s.

He could feel Eichi’s grip loosen, and brought the hand Eichi was holding up to his other cheek when he could effortlessly pry it away.

“Fine. Go tell them where he might be. Just that though. No idle chit chat, you’ll lay the facts down and come back,” Eichi’s voice was tired, and Wataru didn’t blame him, it had been a long day.

Wataru gave Eichi a barely noticeable kiss, before he broke away. He started walking towards the building, stopping for a mere moment when he was next to Keito. He briefly grabbed Keito’s shoulder to get his attention.

“Make sure he doesn’t follow me,” Wataru whispered, before raising his pace, leaving a baffled Keito behind.

It didn’t take more than a few seconds for Eichi to realise what was happening.

Eichi lunged forward, trying to reach Wataru. Keito was faster, almost jumping in front of Eichi in an attempt to stop him. Eichi struggled in Keito’s hold, but with no results. Keito had a stable grip on him, and Eichi could see Kuro moving towards them from the corner of his eye.

“Wataru! Don’t you dare do this! Don’t you dare leave me like this! Do you hear me?! Stop this instant!!” was all Wataru could hear as he ran for the building.

In his mind he apologised to Eichi. He shouldn’t be doing this. But he was Hibiki Wataru, doing something like this was in his nature.

At the door, Wataru bumped into two firemen, leaving the building.

“I wouldn’t advice you going in there, the building will most likely collapse in the next few minutes,” one of them said.

“There’s a small boy still inside, and I need to get him out of there,” Wataru replied, pushing himself past the firemen.

“Well, when you hear a long beep, that’s the signal that the building is going down. Good luck,” the same fireman said, as he started to walk away.

Wataru made his way to the sink, which was mostly covered in big pieces of rubble, that made the actual sink area inaccessible. There were couple of bigger holes from where Wataru could see the sink, but he couldn’t reach it.

“Tomoya, if you are there, please come to me, we need to get out of this building before it collapses,” Wataru said in a voice louder than his usual indoors voice.

He could see one of the sink cabinet doors crack open, and a pair of brown eyes were observing him from the cabinet.

“Ah there you are, now, just come out here, and we’ll go out, your father has been worried about you,” he tried, just hoping Tomoya would come close enough for him to grab him and run for the door.

Unfortunately, Tomoya just shut the closet door.

“Please Tomoya, come out of the cabinet,” Wataru whined.

When the cabinet door remained unmoving, Wataru took his hand back and sighed.

“If you refuse to come out then we will both be goners. Your father will be heartbroken. Eichi will be crushed. Natsume and Tsukasa will be sad. Keito would probably be happy I’m finally out of the picture though,” Wataru let out a quiet laugh.

“If you don’t come out, neither of us will ever see those we love again. I’m sure you want to see your friends more. It’s been a stressful day, I don’t blame you, I’d love to see my friends right now too,” Wataru quickly glanced towards the cabinet door, which still remained closed.

After everything that had happened today, Wataru felt like laughing, but instead he could feel the burn of tears in his eyes. He was tired. He was tired and he wanted this day to be over.

“I hope Eichi knew how much I loved him,” he whispered.

What brought him out of his thoughts, were tiny footsteps, and Wataru’s head flung towards the hole. Tomoya was carefully making his way towards Wataru.

“Yes, that’s the way, a little bit more,” Wataru breathed out, as he offered his hand to Tomoya.

When he felt Tomoya grab his hand, he took it and pulled him out. When Tomoya hit his chest, Wataru heard the signal. He turned towards the door, running as fast as he could, hoping he would reach the exit in time.

Outside, the people watching horrified, as the building collapsed, the helicopter causing a small explosion, could hear Eichi’s scream over the noise of the building.

Eichi could feel his legs give in. This couldn’t be happening. This had to be one of his bizarre dreams. He wouldn’t believe this was the reality.

The only thing separating Eichi and the ground was Keito, who was holding him up, opening and closing his mouth, clearly struggling to find the correct words. But Eichi didn’t want any of Keito’s words, he wanted Wataru. He wanted his Wataru, alive and breathing, to hold him instead of Keito.

That’s why Eichi couldn’t believe his tear filled eyes, when he could faintly make Wataru’s form walking towards them. He blinked his eyes a couple of times, before he could make sure that it really was Wataru, his Wataru, alive and holding something to his chest. Eichi could hear Hokuto yell something, but he didn’t care. It was Wataru, there in front of him.

Stumbling on his feet, Eichi broke away from Keito, and made his way to Wataru. As his feet started to remember how walking worked, he picked up the pace, until he was in front of Wataru. He reached towards him with his hand, and when Wataru took it, and brought it to his cheek, Eichi lunged forwards, pulling Wataru into a loving embrace, gripping his clothes like his life depended on it.

“It’s okay, shh, it’s all okay, I came back to you,” Wataru whispered quietly, as his free hand rubbed circles on Eichi’s back.

Eichi couldn’t answer to him. His whole body was shaking, and his cheeks were wet with tears.

When Hokuto came to pick up Tomoya, Wataru could hold Eichi with both his arms. They just stood there, as Eichi sobbed into his shoulder. It felt like a small forever.

“The firemen and paramedics have given us the okay to leave,” Keito came to inform them after a good while.

Wataru just held Eichi tight, and nodded at Keito.

“If Souma could look after the kids for a little longer, we’ll pick Natsume and Tsukasa and the twins in a minute. Does everyone have a reliable lift home?” Wataru asked. For once he was glad they had taken the family car with two extra seats instead of Eichi’s smaller and fancier car.

“Me and Kuro are taking Sena and his kid home, while Akehoshi said he’ll take Hokuto and Arashi, since he can’t really drive with his foot. Fushimi will drive Himemiya to his apartment and will probably stay with him if I know anything about him,” Keito said.

Wataru watched Keito walk away, waiting until he was far enough before talking to Eichi.

“We should go get the kids. I’ll drive us home and we can all get some well-deserved sleep. Does that sound okay?”

Wataru could just feel Eichi nodding.

“I’m sorry,” Wataru whispered, as he buried his head into Eichi’s neck. “I love you.”

Eichi lifted his head from Wataru’s shoulder, trying to dry his eyes with the edge of his sleeve.

“Don’t ever do anything like this, ever again,” he whispered.

Wataru hummed.

“I mean it.”

“I know. I’ll try to never do anything like this again.”

“I guess that’s the best I can get from you, hm?”

Wataru wanted to laugh, but didn’t really feel like laughing. He still needed to get in touch with Kanata after all, and as far as he knew, there was no word from Koga yet.

Eichi’s fingers were working magic in his hair, while Wataru’s thoughts ran around in a disarrayed panic. Wataru decided it was time to get them under control once again. He took a deep breath, taking in the familiar smell of Eichi, that wasn’t completely buried under the smell of everything that had happened today.

“Let’s go home, Wataru.”

Wataru nodded, taking another deep breath. It was over. They had made it and were okay.

“Yeah. Let’s go home.”

The past couldn’t be changed. There was nothing they could do to change what had happened. They could only go forward.

“I love you Wataru, you know that right?”

It would be hard, moving forward. Everyone had lost something today, in some amount. They would need to start with small steps, go from there. They could do it.

“I know. I love you more than life itself, Eichi, I couldn’t bear to lose you.”

Their fingers intertwined, they made their way to the others. They wouldn’t let go of each other even when their kids rushed to them, clearly worried and with tears in their eyes. They didn’t let go before they needed to make sure that all the four kids were seated in the car, and Wataru had to drive home.

It took them a while to get all the kids to sleep, but after a day like today, everyone was tired. Wataru wanted to just collapse to bed, and Eichi couldn’t agree more. But once Wataru was under the blanket, lying next to Eichi, he couldn’t fall asleep.

Wataru tossed and turned for several minutes, before Eichi pulled him to his chest.

“I can’t sleep if you keep fidgeting like that, Wataru,” he whispered.

“I’m sorry Eichi,” Wataru answered, sneaking his hands around Eichi.

“It’s okay. Just close your eyes and take deep breaths. We deserve some rest. Let’s just get back to this tomorrow okay?”

Eichi’s hands were slowly drawing circles in Wataru’s hair. Wataru could feel himself calm down with the scent of home and Eichi, Eichi’s hands bringing him out of his running thoughts. They would be fine.

“Thank you, Eichi,” Wataru breathed out, the full scale of emotions evident in his voice.

“Shh, don’t worry about it. Everything is fine right now,” Eichi whispered. “We will be fine.”


End file.
